Duration : 0:3:29

Technorati Tags: dick, Movie, penis, rawr, seth, superbad

LAC Lawyers Pty Ltd is engaged in a substantial domestic building dispute in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (“VCAT”) in Melbourne which involves a claim in excess of $1,800,000.00.

Essentially, the case raises the inter-relationship between the issue of a building permit and the antecedent issue of a town planning permit in respect of Section 24 of the Building Act 1993 (Vic.).

That Section requires that a building surveyor must not issue a building permit unless a planning permit has been obtained and the building permit will be consistent with that planning permit.

Since the introduction of the Building Act 1993 (Vic.), the Victorian Building Commission has issued Ministerial Guidelines on behalf of the Minister for Planning.

In November 2000, the Building Commission issued a Minister’s Guideline numbered 00/001 entitled “Building Permit and Planning Permit Consistency”. Those guidelines required the building surveyor, in determining whether the building permit would be consistent with the planning permit, to take the following steps:

- Compare the plans lodged with the application for the building permit with those plans endorsed by the responsible authority as part of the planning permit and any documents referred to in the planning permit that have a direct bearing on the proposed building permit to ensure that they are consistent; and

- Confirm that all planning permit conditions relevant to the building permit that are required to be completed prior to commencement of the development, have been complied with.

The November 2000 Minister’s Guideline provided that the surveyor’s assessment of consistency between the building permit and the relevant planning permit should include (but not be limited to) consideration of:

- The height, area, form and configuration of the proposed building work or any part of the building work;

- The location of the proposed building on the land, including setbacks from boundaries;

- The location of windows, doors and privacy screens; and

- Any conditions of the planning permit that have specific construction requirements or that require specification construction details.

In October 2005, the Building Commission issued a further Minister’s Guideline entitled “Professional Standards – Building Surveyors” which stated that building surveyors performing their functions had to do so in a competent manner and to a professional standard.

This legislation and guidelines places a building surveyor under an obligation to identify discrepancies between the architectural drawings and town planning drawings on the one hand and working drawings and building contract on the other hand. Any such discrepancies should be referred back to the client/builder with a request that an explanation be provided. A building surveyor should not attempt to reconcile or resolve the discrepancies on his or her own.

Likewise, a builder has independent obligations to check documents approved as part of a building permit for any discrepancies before setting out building works and commencing construction.

Section 16 (1) of the Building Act 1993 (Vic.) requires that a person must not carry out building work unless a building permit in respect of the work has been issued and is in force and the work is carried out in accordance with the legislation and the building permit.

Accordingly, builders who do not identify discrepancies between architectural and town planning drawings on the one hand and working drawings and the building contract on the other hand before proceeding to excavate footings, poor slabs and erect frames may well be responsible for considerable damages for re-building, delay and consequential economic loss to developers if such matters as setbacks have been incorrectly calculated even where the setbacks are in accordance with the working drawings incorporated into the building permit but are contrary to the town planning permit conditions or endorsed town planning drawings.

Both building surveyors and registered builders have important responsibilities to ensure that commercial and domestic buildings are constructed in compliance with Victorian legislation and Victorian planning and building permits.

Of course, the fact that discrepancies exist between the endorsed town planning drawings and the building permit working drawings may also give rise to liabilities on the part of the building designers/architects responsible for either. If the town planning drawings drafter knows that a developer/builder has appointed someone else to complete working drawings, the town planning drafter may be under a duty of care to warn the developer/builder to ensure that the working drawings are consistent with the town planning permit conditions and the endorsed town planning plans. Likewise, where the working drawings drafter is aware that the developer/builder has appointed someone else to complete town planning drawings, the working drawings drafter may be under a duty of care to warn the developer/builder to check the working drawings when the town planning permit is issued to ensure that the working drawings are consistent with the later endorsed town planning drawings.

modern building practice is for developers to shop around to obtain the most competitive price for town planning and drafting services. This sometimes leads to different design professionals being appointed for each function. Where this is so, the drafters have an obligation to ensure that plans continue to be checked even if this work is to be performed by another. Likewise, a developer may find that he or she is regarded by the courts as accepting a de facto duty to work as a project manager and ensure liaison between the town planning drafter and the working drawing drafter where these functions are split on the grounds of cost efficiency. This duty may be imposed even when the developer is not a professional builder or investor.

Michael Pickering – LAC Lawyers
http://www.articlesbase.com/law-articles/building-and-town-planning-permits-113508.html

Nasal Attraction

By Jullene Du Toit

South African Dr Pieter Swanepoel is one of the top five nose surgeons in the world. He has pioneered the next great step forward in nose jobs in South Africa.

A kindly aunt of mine once offered me a nose job. “Unfortunately you’ve inherited the Du Toit beak,” she said briskly. “And you know that noses only get longer the older you get. I’ve just come into a bit of money, so if you ever have the urge…”

I spared a wistful thought for my aunt while sitting under twin spotlights, every bump obvious on the computer screen showing my image from a digital camera.

Now, as you can see,” said Dr Pieter Swanepoel, wielding a pen-shaped mouse and special pad, “your nostrils are not symmetrical, and the tip is maybe too pointy. If we just smooth this part here…”

I blinked as the tip of my nose waggled on the computer screen and Dr Swanepoel started doing a virtual resculpting, shortening it, smoothing it and lifting it up ever so lightly at the end. Rather nice, I thought, gazing at the colour print-outs at the end of the session.

The Nose Clinic in Pretoria East is tucked into a sprawling property of indigenous bush, completely private and hidden from the road. It is one of the best in the world, so highly respected that Dr Swanepoel is to present a paper on his method of using local anaesthetic to the American Academy of Facial Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery in New York later this year.

He has pioneered the next step forward in rhinoplasty – painless, quick-healing, and much less stressful to the body than going under general anaesthetic.

It’s a technique known as ‘conscious sedation’ or ‘regional sensory nerve blocking’. A special computer linked to a microneedle measures and injects tiny quantities of anaesthetic under the skin – a gentle, painless procedure. You have the op in the morning, are conscious throughout, and in the afternoon someone can take your woozy self home to sleep it off. In ten days or so all the bruising and swelling is gone and you have yourself a beautiful new nose, and chin too, if that’s needed.

Dr Swanepoel is one of seven surgeons worldwide testing the procedure, and is the only one using local anaesthetic for nose and reconstructive surgery.

Then of course, there’s the specially designed American software that allowed him to tweak my nose into something of beauty. It’s only used by one other plastic surgeon in South Africa. All the rest, I’m afraid, are still sketching noses onto photographs and drawings.

Rhinoplasty, according to the good doctor, is the surgery of minutiae of millimetres. Tiny changes make big differences. You change an imperfect nose, and suddenly the face looks different.

“That’s because the human eye always focuses first on imperfections. The nose is the centre focus of the face, the fulcrum, so to speak. You cannot hide it with clothes or hair. Once a defect is rectified, the attention goes to the strongest part of the face, usually the eyes. In fact the Americans have a saying: A good rhinoplasty is seen in the eyes.”

That’s why it fascinates him so much. Dr Swanepoel has super-specialised in this niche, from qualifying as an ear, nose and throat specialist. But within this very narrow specialisation, he does a wide variety of work. Apart from the plastic surgery, he also does reconstruction for those who have had accidents or some kind of trauma, and functional surgery for people with blocked sinuses or deformities. The three can also be combined. “It’s very challenging surgery – demanding, exacting and variable.”

It’s also half art, half technique and technology, says Dr Swanepoel. Like many plastic surgeons, he’s an artist too, and sculpts in clay, sometimes working with it to figure out how he’ll operate on a particular patient.

Plastic surgery is not the cure-all though, and patient and doctor need to know the limits. Michael Jackson’s first nose job was very good, “an excellent result”, says Dr Swanepoel. But Jackson wanted it perfect. “I always say perfection is the enemy of good, and now he’s gone well over the peak of the bell curve. As my uncle used to say, the worst disease a surgeon can suffer from is itchy fingers.”

It was his uncles who inspired him to become a surgeon when Dr Swanepoel was growing up on a farm between the tiny towns of Koster and Ventersdorp. “It seemed like magic to me that they could hear people’s hearts with a stethoscope, and that they could heal people. They’d sometimes throw a white cloth over my parent’s kitchen table, and operate on emergency cases like appendix or even Caesarians. I would hide underneath and peep at what was going on.

“One day, I’ll never forget. They caught me there, and my dad was going to take me out, but his eldest brother who was very stern, looked at me and said: “No, let him stay. Who knows, maybe one day he’ll become a doctor too.”

I darted discreet looks at Dr Swanepoel’s less than beautiful schnozz. Would he ever have his done, I asked. “Well, I know it needs some work,” he mused fingering it. “But there’s no one in this country I’d lie down for. There are maybe two in the States I’d consider, but otherwise no,” he said, eyes twinkling.

Did you know?

- Nose surgery began about 3 000 years ago, in response to the lopping off of noses in battle, or in India, because of infidelity. Surgeons would graft rolld up skin from the forehead onto the gaping wound.

- Noses have 240 anatomical variations.

- Twenty years ago, a nose job would have cost the same as a small house. Now they’ll set you back about R12 000.

- Before an operation, avoid pain pills, curries, chillies and arnica. They all thin the blood and cause excessive bleeding and bruising. Arnica should only be used afterwards.

For more information on The Nose Clinic, visit www.newnose.co.za or call

(012)807-1147

Jullene Du Toit
http://www.articlesbase.com/health-articles/nasal-attraction-97571.html

It is always good to have observational stuff too.

Duration : 0:3:25

Technorati Tags: drawing, drybrush, JuicyStar07, portrait

Dr. Seuss, a beloved children’s writer and illustrator, has an impressive collection of rarely-seen art.

Most people know who Dr. Seuss is. They have read his stories, appreciated his humor and passed books on from generation to generation. But how much do you really know about this gifted man? Was he really a doctor? Where does the name Seuss come from? What was his inspiration for his unmistakable style? Many people do not realize that Dr. Seuss illustrated his own books and are still blown away by his ability to take the imagination to soaring new heights through his clever rhyme and fantastical stories. What else was the Dr. up to?

During his lifetime ,Theodor Seuss Geisel, AKA Dr. Seuss, lived on both east and west coasts, spent time at Oxford in the UK, traveled extensively throughout the world, and even helped the U.S. Army create instructional cartoons for troops during WWII. He began his life in Springfield Massachusetts and his interest in cartooning and humor developed there from visits to the local zoo and from observing the characters that he saw all around him. The first children’s book that Geisel published was titled “And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street,” which was actually the main street in his hometown. His first book was published in 1937, twenty years before he became universally known for “The Cat in the Hat” and “How the Grinch Stole Christmas” and Geisel continued to publish until his death in 1991.

Seuss’s books delighted while he was alive and since his death, his Secret Art Collection has enchanted the public. The Secret Art Collection of Dr. Seuss is so called because the originals paintings, drawings, and sculptures were Ted Geisel’s private collection of artwork which he never showed to the public. Only after his death did his wife Audrey reveal to the world the grown-up side of the art of Dr. Seuss. The collection is shown in Audrey’s book “The Secret Art of Dr. Seuss. Many of these fanciful, kooky images have been reproduced as high quality limited editions, which are available to purchase. Over 60 years of painting for his own enjoyment gives us paintings such as “The Cat from the Wrong Side of the Tracks,” and “Indistinct Cat with Cigar,” and really show a darker, more grown-up side to Seuss’s humor. He pokes fun at those too attached to their economic situation or those trying too hard to keep up with the Joneses in “The Economic Situation Clarified” and “My Petunia Can Lick Your Geranium.” Yet other paintings demonstrate his artistic ability in simple compositions with stunning clarity.

The Unorthodox Taxidermy Collection is really the most unexpected part of his Secret Art Collection. The original three-dimensional animal heads incorporate horns, beaks, and fur from known animals to create never-before seen, fantastical creatures, such as the “Goo-goo Eyed Tasmanian Wolghast” or the “Blue Green Abelard.” All the wall sculptures have been reproduced as hand-painted resin pieces, and all are very limited in number. The expressions on these humorous beasts illustrate Geisel’s ability to impart personality to even the strangest of subjects and make them much loved additions to any home. Instead of a moose, hang a Seuss!

For the true fan, the most comprehensive collection of Seuss art in the country is on permanent display at ART on 5th Gallery in Austin, Texas. Visit their website <a href=”http://www.arton5th.com”>www.arton5th.com</a> to start your collection.The gallery has carried the collection since its inception over ten years ago and has become an indispensable resource for the serious collector or for those just discovering that there is more to the good Dr. than they knew…and no, he never received a Ph. D. The “Dr.” in his pen name is an acknowledgment of his father’s unfulfilled hopes that Geisel would earn a doctorate. Geisel felt that his talents lie elsewhere and the world is thankful that he followed the fascinating path the he did. And “Seuss” was his mother’s maiden name.

Daniel Smith
http://www.articlesbase.com/humor-articles/the-secret-art-of-dr-seuss-755355.html

ZAP, an electric car pioneer, earlier unveiled the concept drawings of its X Crossover SUV on its website. The images are also highlighted in the April 2007 issue of Popular Science in the article titled ‘Who killed the gas guzzler?’ where you can also find an interview with Steve Schneider, the ZAP CEO.

The ZAP-X compact crossover SUV images highlight the technology, styling and the potent performance that the company wanted to integrate into the vehicle. The concept will feature all-wheel drive complemented with in-hub electric motors and other performance parts. The vehicle is capable of producing an astounding 644 horsepower and an impressive top speed of 155mph. The performance is achieved by combining a lightweight aluminum chassis, refined battery management system and a new proficient drive system. Basically, the goal of the vehicle is to achieve 350-mile range with a swift recharging time of ten minutes.

ZAP and Lotus Engineering will begin the first phase of an engineering project to use the British consultancy’s APX or Aluminum Performance Crossover as a basis for designing the X-concept electric all-wheel drive crossover high performance vehicle for ZAP in the American market.

Steve Schneider, the CEO of ZAP, was earlier quoted saying: “Lotus Engineering’s APX technology demonstrator vehicle is a perfect fit for our plans to introduce a full product portfolio of electric cars. Due to the initial design by Lotus, our cost and time to production will be significantly reduced. We believe that the ZAP-X will become the most advanced, most practical and most appealing flagship electric vehicle to date and will revolutionize the industry providing the driver with the enjoyment of a sports car and the practicality of an SUV.”

“Lotus Engineering’s APX is a world-class innovative concept and was developed to showcase real solutions to new challenges facing the automotive industry. So it’s very satisfying that ZAP’s proposed new model will make use of a great deal of the APX concept’s advanced body structure and chassis technology. The bringing together of these next-generation vehicle technologies represents another significant step forward for automotive technology,” said Mike Kimberley, the CEO of Group Lotus.

The concept is based on the APX technical demonstrator vehicle by Lotus Engineering. Lotus has contributed some of the most successful cars in the history. It is also one of the world’s premier auto consultancies. The company has been employed by many of the major automakers to develop engineering services on concept and production cars. Lotus is one of the two original equipment manufacturers (OEM) that have expertise in design, production and marketing its own product lines. This fact gives the company a remarkable edge in the automotive realm.

“We believe that the ZAP-X will become the most advanced, most practical and most appealing flagship electric vehicle to date and will revolutionize the industry providing the driver with the enjoyment of a sports car and the practicality of an SUV,” noted Schneider.

Correy Putton
http://www.articlesbase.com/automotive-articles/zap-releases-x-crossover-electric-car-concept-drawings-120296.html

Regarding inspiration, we note that Massimo Scolari’s drawings have always inspired us. “His form is strange. Renouncing all anthropomorphism, he resembles a machine that has not yet been constructed. He does not resemble the angel-messengers that have populated our culture. He does not even resemble the angels of contemporary iconography, such as Klee’s sad, desperate, melancholy and full of doubt.”1

“The air in which he moves, for example, in Gas Station Inn, 1975, or in Piolta del Labirinto (Pilot of the Labyrinth, 1978) is vitreous. The air seems not to breathe and everything is arrested for an immobile instant; for here a new history begins. This angel machine is the messenger of new lands and new forms.”2 “And as Benjamin spoke of the modern angel as a figure whose gaze is fixed on the clouds of ruins, who climbs towards the heavens in the ravaging flight of time which turns everything into the past, for Scolari too this archaeological gaze is artificial (Architeicial Archaeology, 1979). The angel, with its blue wings unfurled, flies toward the clouds of time, from which emerges the ziggurat which holds the traces of a language that perhaps can be deciphered in a new sense. And it is precisely in this painting that we are able to understand the technical and formal importance of Scolari’s anti-perspective representation, along parallel axes.”3

Scolari affirms that drawings can be as powerful as words. In his drawings, machines populate the alienated worlds- worlds with no past, present, or future. He calls them hallucinated machines,”4 and describes them as a multiform center of gravity of productive orthopedics which cannot be overcome; useful or useless, loved or hated: it waits for us outside of our own thoughts, accompanying us everywhere.”5 To him, machines appear as dimensional enigmas, such as Greek Myth which has no objective correlative.

The demise of the Machine Age signifies the coming of a new age without neglecting the vast opportunity presented by these carcasses of the past, the present or the future. That the found space inevitably abides in the ruins of the Machine Age is a common vision shared by all previously mentioned visionaries- a mutated fragmentation of our built environment. The found space lies in the transitional period between the new and old, but will always be with us in the past, present and future. The concerns with symbolism, spiritualism, and technology represent opportunity or inopportunity in the field of architecture. Scolari expressed this as an “enigma which expresses precision.”6

Technology is seen as an enigma of a real world which lacks objective reference notes and where there is always need for an absolute and metaphysical precision. Through appropriate methods of abstraction and figuration, the metaphysical precision of technology can be achieved.

Massimo Scolari is an architect, painter and artist whose drawings and works have been inspirational to many architects and artists.

Footnotes

1 Scolari, Massimo. Hypnos, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Rizzoli of New York, 1986, P. 12.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid, P. 22.

4 Ibid, P. 18.

5 Ibid.

6 Scolari, Massimo. Hypnos, Harvard University Graduate School of Design, Rizzoli of New York, 1986, P. 18.

Mi Tsung Chang
http://www.articlesbase.com/visual-art-articles/the-works-and-drawings-of-massimo-scolari-707759.html

The works and drawings of Walter Pichler, best illustrate the visual representations of the emotions that explore the origin of ideas. In 1963, he issued a manifesto that urged architects to base architectural forms on technology. Later, his works were included in the exhibition of Visionary Architecture (the machine-influenced architectural drawings were the topic of that exhibition), sponsored by the Museum of modern Art. “Pichler thinks of his drawings as visual representations of past feelings. He produces three types: architectural plans, personal stories, and dreamlike images that relate to spontaneous reveries. Many of his drawings combine all three elements. Carefully drawn in line and color, the plans outline prospective projects that may be rendered again in subsequent drawings, analyzed in small-scale models, or actually constructed.”1 “His more freely drawn images can illustrate stories or depict memories of his past, as in Death of Kurt Schapira, 1976. Some of his images are rich in metaphysical and psychological content, expressing emotions and attitudes even though the specific meaning may be obscure, as in Dog and Cat, 1993. He admits that the scenes in some of these drawings come to him like dreams, saying it all comes from very deep.”2

“The Glass House for the Mobile Figure: View of the Interior of the Glass House, 1981, is a section drawing of a house he designed for one of his sculptures that is now installed at Saint Martin. With carefully ruled pen lines brushed with wash, he presents a clear analysis of the house, with the sculpture- a metal-jointed mannequin called mobile Figure- placed on rafters. Within this carefully constructed study, the artist has drawn a couple making love in the eaves.”3 For Walter Pichler, the inter-connectedness of architecture and art are apparent in his works. He expresses his emotions through the images that he develops. In Pichler’s subconscious, he explores a new world beyond ordinary imagination. His creative works, which often emphasize metaphysics and symbolism, have given artists and designers alike new creative energy. It is clear that the creative aspect of architectural design can never be taught by a formal methodology or by any set of rules. Blindly following the rules of aesthetics can be hazardous in any creative field (in a greater extent in our civilization), creativity can naturally be stimulated by inspiration. From the practical standpoint of architecture, you can tell someone what they should or should not do. However, in the creative realm of architecture, telling someone what they should or should not do will stifle creativity.

Walter Pichler is an architect, sculptor and artist whose drawings and works have been inspirational to many architects and artists.

Footnotes

1 Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden of Smithsonian Institution. Walter Pichler works on paper, all quotes are from a June 1988 interview with the artist.

2 Ibid.

3 Ibid.

Mi Tsung Chang
http://www.articlesbase.com/visual-art-articles/the-works-and-drawings-of-walter-pichler-707752.html

Duration : 0:3:25